For a while, it seemed as if the "miniseries" was a faded element of television, as several during the past few years seemingly came with a lot of promotion behind them and left with little audience interest. Yet, several recent efforts have shown what is possible with the format, such as HBO's "Band Of Brothers" and NBC's "Uprising". While I haven't seen all of the former, the later is a stunning, ambitious effort that surpasses its television origins and seems more like a feature film.

The film, which originally aired on NBC in November of 2001, is the true story of a group of Jewish people who stood up against the Nazi Army and formed the Jewish Fighting Organization, lead by Mordechai Anielewicz (Hank Azaria, in his finest performance). Nearly 500,000 Jewish people are corraled into the Warsaw Ghetto - the Nazis are brutal to the inhabitants, who also suffer further from poor living conditions, little food and illness.

While the head of the group, Adam Czerniakow (played by Donald Sutherland) does not choose to join their resistance, a group of settlers, lead by Anielewicz, decides that they must fight back. Azaria has been previously known for his comedic roles in films like "America's Sweethearts", but this is obviously his finest work; commanding, dramatic, emotional and intense, Azaria is marvelous. Also giving some of their finest work are David Schwimmer (who desperately needs to break out of playing similar characters and prove, as he does here, that he can actually provide a dramatic performance) and Leelee Sobieski, as Yitzhak and Tosia, two fellow fighters in the uprising. Jon Voight also stars as one of the Nazi commanders. While there may be some historical inaccuracies involved in "Uprising", all of the characters are well-written and fully-realized.

Outnumbered, but fierce and intelligent, the Jewish members who have banded together fight back against an enormous amount of millitary force for an astounding length of time, using smuggled weapons and remarkable planning. Director Jon Avnet has done a superb job handling the three-hour film, presented often in a "documentary"-type style. The combination of intense, strong performances and editing make for an exceptional amount of tension, especially in the film's second and third hours. Although the film is three hours, it didn't feel that long. The film is alternately saddening, horrifying, hopeful, suspenseful and triumphant, but always extremely involving and well-made, with good costumes and cinematography, among other technical elements.

Note: Although the film was originally aired on television, it did get a very small theatrical release in December of 2001. I'm unsure of the exact rules on Oscar voting for a film that has previously appeared on television, but I'm hoping that "Uprising" will gain some awards notice early next year, as it is deserving in several catagories. The entire 177 minute film is presented on one of the set's dual-layer discs, while the other disc contains two documentaries.